BALI TO TOKYO

This trip actually was before our Texas trip from March 6 - 25. It was not one of my better travel experiences which will become clear as this post continues. We spent 20 hours on airplanes getting to Denpasar, Bali, for our cruise the following day. Our prearranged driver met us along with hundreds of other drivers and tourists. I reserved the Villa d’Carik through Booking.com. It was only 13 miles from the airport but took over an hour to arrive. The road ended and there was no hotel or resort in sight. I thought, “What the hell have I done?” The last quarter mile was accessible only by golf cart which we found out via phone calls.

Our driver, who barely spoke English, wanted a photo with us after the golf cart arrived. I'm surprised I looked this together after flying forever with no real sleep, enduring the humidity and being upside down with the time.

The Villa d'Carik was quite remote. It is on the grounds of a Hindu temple. The owner told us that his family owns the temple. It was a beautiful setting but it took until the next morning to really enjoy it.

Our room was nice but not super modern. We were told to use the mosquito net around the bed and the bathroom left a little to be desired. We plugged in our phone charger and the extension cord sparked, popped and emitted smoke. The owner came and brought us a new one. No harm, no foul.

The pool that our room overlooked with rice fields in the background.

Breakfast on our lanai. The owner made us omelettes since there was nowhere to eat for miles. They also had 4 or 5 dinner choices for a small fee. Breakfast was included.

Large koi fish were all around the temple grounds.

Part of the Hindu temple on the grounds of Villa d'Carik.

Darrin's girlfriend, Patricia, had been in Bali last year and recommended a guide, Deva. She put us in touch with him via What's App. We had made arrangements for him to pick us up in the morning for a tour of the area and then dropping us at the ship.

Lou wanted to see the rice terraces that Bali is famous for. These are some of the best, Tegalalang rice terraces near Ubud, Bali.

Water lilies.

This is a waterfall that Deva took us to see but I can't remember the name. Lou hiked all the way down to the waterfall and back up. I sat in an open air bar and had a cold beer for $2.

Lou, Deva and me at the rice terraces. Deva was personable, knowledgeable, helpful and a really nice guy. If you ever go to Bali, let me know and I'll give your his contact info. 

Deva had us at our ship, the Oceania Insignia, right on time. There were no lines and we literally walked onto the ship without any delays. Later we discovered that of the approximately 700 passengers, 400 of them were on an ‘around the world’ cruise. They were sailing for 175 days and had been onboard for a couple months.

The pool deck. It was never a problem to find a lounge by the pool since this crowd wasn't too into music and partying poolside like most cruise ship clientele.

The main dining room. We liked that it was all anytime dining and never seemed to be more than a minimal wait. But, as you'll read below, I didn't get there until over halfway through the cruise.

Our oceanview cabin. It was nicely decorated but smaller than many we've been on. The bathroom and shower were especially tiny.

This is where it gets interesting. We were treated to an unexpected dinner in the Italian specialty restaurant our first evening onboard which was great. My usual cruise breakfast of a made-to-order omelette and bacon the next morning was also delicious. About 2-3 hours later I was sicker than I’ve ever been in my life. I've since learned it is not uncommon to pick up "Bali Belly". I’ll save you all the gory details but whatever I had wanted out of my body immediately.

I literally slept for 3 days in our cabin, drinking water and trying to eat at least a little something. I think I'm the only person who went on a cruise and lost 7 pounds! On the third day I thought I might try to go up on deck (near a bathroom) and sleep up there for awhile. Lou came back to our cabin after breakfast, said he didn’t feel well and laid down with me about 10:30 AM. We woke up at 6:30 PM. Fortunately, Lou's illness only lasted a couple days and wasn't as severe as mine. 

We had changed a couple of our shore excursions to less strenuous ones. There were two sea days that I slept through. I missed one excursion in Surabaya, Indonesia, so I decided to try the Brunei museum and city tour we had signed up for.

Our first stop was the Royal Regalia Museum in Maura, Brunei. They didn't allow any cameras inside but I snapped this before I knew that. I managed fairly well staying near bathrooms for the hour long tour.

I will apologize now because I don't know half of what I saw on these excursions. Most of the time was on the bus and these photos were taken out of the window as the bus drove along.

Another interesting building in Maura. Brunei is located on the north coast of the island of Borneo. From what I've heard, Brunei is one of the richest countries on earth.

Since I managed fairly well in Brunei, I decided to go ahead and try the Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia, bus tour the next day.

These dancers and musicians greeted us on the dock as we exited the ship. 

Again, these photos were mostly taken from the bus window but I managed to get a few good shots as we toured Kota Kinabalu or "KK" as the locals call it.

They have some beautiful and different architecture in this part of the world.

They seemed to be proud of this round building. The bus made a short stop and we were able to get out for a photo op.

Suddenly about 3/4 of the way through our tour, I needed a bathroom - now. I had plenty of supplies with me but this was an emergency. Our next stop was a Marriott Hotel for a drink on the top floor with views. Long story short I made a beeline for the bathroom. I came out and told Lou I needed to get back to the ship. He and the guide were already on it. There was a taxi waiting, 10 minutes and 10 dollars later I was back on the ship and called the medical center.

Half an hour later, here I was, getting IV fluids and meds for a bacterial infection, nausea and pain. Dr. Roy and his staff were fantastic. I wanted him for my regular doctor. Of course, my sweetie, had to document it with a photo. Yes, everyone, including Lou told me I should have called the med center earlier but being a typical woman, I believed it wasn't necessary. 

With all my IV meds and oral antibiotics to kill the “h. pylori bacterial infection”, which was confirmed the next morning, I was starting to feel better. I decided to skip our two stops in the Philippines since I was still gun shy after the Kota Kinabalu fiasco.

The oral antibiotic made everything taste terrible. Even water tasted awful! I finally made it to the dining room for the first time on day 9 of our cruise. I ate little bits of dinners that tasted crappy. Those of you who know me, listen to this, I didn’t have a glass of wine for 10 days and didn’t want one! When I finally tried one it tasted bad, too.

I finally ventured out when we reached Taipei, Taiwan.

Some of what we believed were condos in Taipei.

 

More different buildings in Taipei.

The National Palace Museum was the highlight of this tour with nearly 700,000 artifacts in its permanent collection.

An entire room on display in the National Palace Museum.

The National Opera House and National Theater on the grounds of the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall.

Lou walked all around the large memorial grounds and climbed quite a few stairs to explore everything.

One of the entrance gates to the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall. 

Lou got this photo out of the bus window as we drove past the Taipei 101 skyscraper, currently the 10th tallest building in the world. Unfortunately, he didn't have an opportunity to head to the top. We did get out before China bombed them and we managed to miss the strongest earthquake in 25 years that toppled buildings and killed 9 people by 10 days.

Our last two stops were in Japan. First up was Kagoshima followed by Tokyo. Both Lou and I enjoyed Kagoshima the most with our tour of Samurai gardens and the Chiran (Kamikaze) Peace Museum, plus an active volcano next to our ship.

The skyline of Kagoshima from our ship.

Walking to the Samurai Gardens.

This house in the Samurai Gardens is just for display and no longer lived in but several of them were still inhabited by descendants of the Samurai.

A walkway along the street that housed about ten Samurai homes and gardens.

One of the well groomed gardens.

Looking through windows we could see some of the displays created by the owners.

A garden entrance with cherry blossoms in bloom.

The Chiran Peace Museum for Kamikaze Pilots was built in 1975 to commemorate the lives of the 1200 pilots who died at their own hands. No photos were allowed inside.

Sakurajima Volcano is one of the most active volcanos in the world. When our ship arrived in the morning none of that steam was erupting. This was taken upon our return in the afternoon.

A close up of the steam erupting from Sakurajima Volcano.

The weather changed from hot and humid early on the cruise to pretty chilly in Japan. Our panoramic Tokyo tour was overcast but the rain held off until the next day when we flew home.

Our weather in Tokyo was quite gloomy and didn't make for great photos. At least we stayed dry.

Tokyo Tower is a great place to see the surrounding areas of Tokyo. Lou had been up in the tower years ago but it was part of our tour and up we went.

A soccer field surrounded by large city buildings. Tokyo is the most populous city in the world with approximately 37 million people.

Another view of the city from Tokyo Tower.

Me at the top of Tokyo Tower beginning to feel somewhat human again.

I spotted this bright green Lamborghini out the bus window and snapped a photo.

The New National Stadium built as the centerpiece of the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo.

One of the shopping areas in the late afternoon. 

Our flight home the next day was much easier than getting to Bali. Tokyo to Los Angeles was only nine hours. We arrived early and were able to change our Southwest flight to Sacramento to an earlier flight which got us home by midday. After all the mayhem on this cruise and our Texas eclipse trip 10 days later, I'm glad to be back home for awhile.